Sat, February 15 2025

Despite Jai as the star, it’s Yogi Babu who tries to pull off the balancing act in this film where its attempts at humour are unintentionally funnier than the jokes themselves

When a family matriarch, vexed about not having a grandson after her first two sons produce girl children, is on the verge of giving up, her third son’s wife births a baby girl while the son’s friend becomes a father of a male child. In a minor confusion, the matriarch mistakes the male child of her son’s friend as her grandson and it’s up to the son and his friend to maintain the narrative while external forces decide to kidnap the child. If you, like the reviewer, are a fan of actor Thyagu’s “Adhaan Varghese’u” line from the 1996 Tamil film Enakkoru Magan Pirappan, you would most likely know the above plot is from the same Ramki-Vivek starrer, which itself was a remake of the Malayalam film Aadyathe Kanmani. A tweaked version of this also happens to be the plot of Jai’s Baby and Baby, an uninspiring, insipid ‘comedy’ film.

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Fri, February 14 2025

The new Netflix mini-series goes back to the basics of dramatic storytelling, tackling themes as timeless as jealousy, betrayal, and ambition.

Both Mark Zuckerberg and the movie based on his early life, The Social Network, are referenced in the new Netflix mini-series Apple Cider Vinegar. Named after the snake oil that was being peddled online by seemingly every lifestyle influencer a few years ago, the show is inspired by the rather unbelievable story of Belle Gibson, a young Australian woman who scammed millions into subscribing to her personalised diet plans. Belle claimed that she’d beaten brain cancer by consuming clean food instead of conventional chemotherapy. The truth was that Belle was never diagnosed with cancer at all; it was the neglect that she experienced in childhood that compelled her to con the world. She’s played in the six-episode series by the wonderful Kaitlyn Dever, who rose to fame with the coming-of-age film Booksmart, and the even better Netflix series Unbelievable. In Apple Cider Vinegar, she puts on a convincing Australian accent, and finds a balance between Belle’s delusion and ambition. Abandoned by her troubled mother, Belle supposedly ran away from home at the age of 12. She gave birth to her first child when she was still a teenager, and subsequently embarked on a career as a huckster. Fuelled by a desire to be loved and accepted, she turned to social media to scratch this itch. Belle founded The Whole Pantry mobile app, through which she literally influenced terminally ill men and women into shunning traditional forms of treatment.

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Thu, February 6 2025

Starring Kaitlyn Dever, the compelling limited series is based on a wellness empire that holds many secrets.

The series Apple Cider Vinegar wastes no time in telling viewers that it is a true story based on a lie. Set in Australia, the limited series is based on the wellness culture that emerged in the 2010s, with pretty young women leading the charge and telling people how to eat and shape their lives. Created by writer Samantha Strauss, the drama looks beyond pretty pictures and nice fonts on social media to look at the real story of what these women were going through. The limited series follows two women, Belle Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever) and Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey), both of whom had crafted an inspirational image as survivors who had overcome ill health. The only difference was that one woman was lying about her cancer diagnosis. Apple Cider Vinegar, which is set at the rise of blogging and social media, especially Instagram, is also a time capsule about wellness culture, which rejected science and heralded the benefits of nature. Based on the book The Woman Who Fooled the World by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, creator Strauss has written the series with Anya Beyersdorf and Angela Betzien. Apple Cider Vinegar goes pretty deep into the backstories of Belle and Milla and shows why, while their intentions were well-meaning at first, it all snowballed out by the end.

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Fri, February 14 2025

Apple's new film relies heavily on Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy's performances, but suffers from mediocre pacing and an overuse of CGI.

The Gorge is four movies in one. Some might describe this as a value-for-money proposition. But others might find it a bit all over the place. There is no doubt, however, that the film bites off more than it can chew. And in the age of snackable ‘content’, this could be construed as high praise. Directed by Scott Derrickson, a filmmaker who has routinely shown skill at elevating genre movies, The Gorge coasts by for the majority of its two-hour run-time on star-power alone. There are long stretches of plodding nonsense, yes, but the film’s biggest strength lies in its constant determination to be unpredictable — relatively speaking, at least. Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy play Levi and Drasa, two snipers who are hand-picked to keep guard at watchtowers on opposite ends of a mysterious gorge. We aren’t told where the gorge is located, or what our heroes are even supposed to be guarding. In time, however, we learn that the facility is strategically located somewhere between America and Russia, and that protecting it from being discovered was one of the biggest objectives during the Cold War. Levi and Drasa have been drafted to keep watch for exactly a year, following which they’ll be replaced by two others.

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Thu, February 13 2025

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson helms a romance between two elite snipers that is both thrilling and effective.

The Apple TV+ movie, The Gorge, is an unexpected Valentine’s Day release. This, combined with the ongoing saga on Severance Season 2, has the streamer taking an unconventional approach to the day dedicated to romance. Written by Zach Dean, The Gorge is about the horrors hidden in the aforementioned valley, which has two highly trained operatives assigned to protect it. But the story shifts into a forbidden romance between the duo with unexpected results. The film shows how Levi (Miles Teller) and Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy) are at the top of their games as snipers, even though their approach might be different. They are each chosen for a year-long gig defending a vast gorge, covered by a mysterious fog, in an unknown country. The previous guard, JD (Sope Dirisu), tells Levi as he hands off the post to him that the gorge is the “door to hell, and we’re standing guard at the gate.” So what lies beneath?

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Thu, February 13 2025

Directed by Mark Waters, the low-key romance about an American dad discovering his passion for life again almost wants you to relocate to the Italian countryside.

Every year around Valentine’s Day, the streamers trot out generic romance films that help you pass the time but don’t leave any impact. Director Mark Waters’s latest film La Dolce Villa, starring Scott Foley and Maia Reficco, is no exception. Set in the gorgeous Italian countryside, the breezy romantic comedy on Netflix will have you booking your next ticket to the country. Former chef turned business consultant Eric (Scott Foley) rushes to Italy after he finds his 24-year-old daughter Olivia (Maia Reficco) is buying a run-down villa for one euro. Determined to stop her, he lands in the fictional Montezara and ends up falling for the town’s mayor, Francesca (Violante Placido). As the father and daughter heal their relationship, they become part of the family in the Montezara as well.

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Thu, February 13 2025

Director Kunal Kohli returns with a Hum Tum-shaped debacle.

I’m running out of polite ways to say that most Bollywood launch vehicles are vanity vans parading as commercial movies. I’m running out of impolite ways to say that most Hindi rom-coms feature nepotism hires and Gen Z characters who speak like outdated youngsters at a debutante ball imagined by out-of-touch boomers. I’m also running out of ways to say that I’m running out of ways. Kunal Kohli’s Bobby Aur Rishi Ki Love Story looks like it was written in 1995, shot in 2005, scored in 2015, edited in 1985, colour corrected in 1975 and released in 2025. Remember the annoying animated couple from Kohli’s hit, Hum Tum (2005)? Those two were still more realistic and less cringey than the live-action couple in this film, who do the walking-and-talking-in-Europe (or post-Brexit Britain) jig as if Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Before Sunrise were in-flight tourist videos rather than classic landscape changers. They start as enemies, become frenemies and turn into screechy soulmates — all with the artistic spirit of a paid vacation and the emotional awareness of an oblivious meme.

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Sun, February 9 2025

Sat, February 8 2025

‘The child is father of the man…’ Whatever William Wordsworth may have meant by that poetic expression, sons and fathers are as inextricably linked as a mother’s umbilical connection binds her to her children. Yet, fathers and sons are always on a tricky terrain, invariably perched on delicate ground, rarely common. “Is he an adult or a child?” — the question pops up from a perplexed son finding it difficult to get a grasp of his father’s whimsical ways. “He is your father, you are the child,” comes the honest reply from his girlfriend. Boman Irani, who has proved his mettle as an actor more than once, now comes with his directorial debut, ‘The Mehta Boys’, where he brings out the tensions immanent in a father-son relationship in the same nuanced manner which has marked his acting. After winning the Best Feature Film award at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, the film is currently streaming on Prime Video, and is as much about the father-son conflict as it is about love and affection.

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Sat, February 8 2025

Boman Irani's directorial debut is a heartfelt but unexceptional film about a warring father and son

Boman Irani began acting in films in his 40s. From the start, it seemed like he’d always been there. He was a throwback to an earlier era of actors like Charles Laughton and Alex Guiness who were happy to disappear behind a wig, a fake nose, an accent. Irani could, of course, play it straight, like the father in Lakshya. But no one was better at going broad. His Khurana in Khosla Ka Ghosla and Asthana in Munnabhai M.B.B.S. are legend, but there’s a spectacular rogue’s gallery stretching from Darna Mana Hai to Don, Well Done Abba to Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd to Jayeshbhai Jordaar. Irani stars in The Mehta Boys and does a fine, fussy, fretful job. It’s also his first film as director, co-written with Alexander Dinelaris (Birdman) and co-produced by his company, Irani Movietone. It’s a polite little film about a recently bereaved family, emotionally available, a bit shapeless. Not all directors start with a big swing, but this is closer to forward defence.

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Sat, February 8 2025

When the three brothers meet after a long time expecting the death of their ailing mother, old scars, bittersweet nostalgia, and new problems surface in a poignant tale that invokes laughter and tears.

“Going home again" is a cinema trope that continues to string hearts despite being around for a while. It never becomes dated as everyone–even the ones staying in their hometown–longs to go back since home is never a place. It is a collection of memories of a place and time with people that’s lost. Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal (Narayani’s Three Sons) explores the popular adage: “You can never go home again." It isn’t there anymore because even the one, who is missing it, is not the same individual who once lived there. Sethu (Joju George), the middle son of Narayani, learns it the hard way when he tries to bring back his estranged brothers to their hometown, when their mother is on her deathbed, counting her days. The family reunion brings to the fore the old scars, nostalgic memories, and new problems, making up for an immense experience of laughter, tears, and profound thoughts.

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Sat, February 8 2025

The swooning romance works hugely for the film, while other portions could have benefited from better writing

Some films focus less on plot and more on character-driven narratives. Thandel, the Telugu film directed by Chandoo Mondeti, is a prime example. Based on true incidents from a few years ago, in which fishermen from Andhra Pradesh unknowingly crossed international waters into Pakistan, the film weaves a love story that transcends all odds. The storyline, penned by Karthik Theeda, is straightforward, but Chandoo’s screenplay immerses viewers in the world of the fisherfolk, with an emotionally stirring romance — between Raju (Naga Chaitanya) and Satya (Sai Pallavi) — at its core. The poignant love story comes alive through the lead actors’ performances, complemented by Devi Sri Prasad’s evocative music, which serves as the film’s emotional anchor. But is that enough to overlook the weaker, more turbulent portions? Almost.

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Fri, February 7 2025

Naga Chaitanya's film is loosely based on real-life events, of 22 fishermen from Andhra Pradesh getting arrested by Pakistan’s Navy and struggling to get home.

Thandel becomes the much-needed breakthrough for Naga Chaitanya, who establishes himself as an able actor, something he has been striving for a while now. The Telugu actor plays the role of Raju, a fisherman from a coastal village in Andhra Pradesh, named Machidesam. The fishermen in the town make a living off travelling to the Gujarat coast and fishing in the treacherous waters, which borders a Pakistan-controlled region. Raju, the Thandel, the captain of the village’s fisherman, is deeply in love with Sathya (Sai Pallavi), another pillar of the film. Together the two actors make Thandel a moving love story about perseverance and aid hugely in letting go of the blemishes, that are scattered in the movie.

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Fri, February 7 2025

Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi starrer Thandel is the best bad film in all the oldest ways possible. Apart from Pallavi, everyone and everything is artificial including the filmmaking.

In Chandoo Mondeti’s Thandel, distance makes romance sing harder before it combusts into a residue of tears. Raju (Naga Chaitanya) and Satya (Sai Pallavi) have been together since childhood and now their love blossoms through the stray mobile tower. Raju is a seafarer, a fisherman who works the waters around Gujarat while Satya in Srikakulam looks longingly at her mobile phone to hear a syllable in his voice. He holds the phone aloft and so does she at home. He, with ocean on all sides and, she, on land but not far from the beach. We see a fisherfolk community that toils in the waters, the men away for long and the women waiting and working at home. We know that this frequent separation will not end well and as expected, Thandel doesn’t hold its cards too close to its chest. It presents everything without a facade. Raju is our regular Telugu film hero, and this is as mainstream as it gets so he is introduced romancing and fighting at the same time. The first half coasts along and nothing really happens for much of Thandel’s runtime. Physical distance gives way to emotional distance between the lovers but the way the film narrativises these events is toothless. The film places itself in melodramatic territory, the star-crossed lovers’ separation is the whole point, but the writing is flat and we never feel for any of these people. Apart from Sai Pallavi, everyone and everything is artificial including the filmmaking. It is probably forgivable to use a green screen for scenes atop a lighthouse, but Satya is staged in front of what looks like a green screen even for a scene on the terrace of her tiny dwelling. The film looks cheap and when even basic scenes are given this little attention then what to make of stormy seas where there are both fights as well as lifesaving action.

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Fri, February 7 2025

While Vidaamuyarchi revolves around Ajith, and he does a commendable job of dealing with anguish and perseverance, the film rides on the roles played by Arjun and Regena Cassandra.

Ajith Kumar’s Arjun isn’t a “hero” by any stretch of the imagination, especially in the Tamil cinema ecosystem. In fact, if the film wasn’t a gripping action drama, Arjun would have been a certified loser with nothing going for him. In fact, even in this movie, for a really long time, Arjun is never a facilitator of action, but just a responder to the consequence. And that’s what makes it all the more special because it is an action film featuring one of the biggest stars of Tamil cinema, and it features a star stripped of all his stardom… almost. Magizh Thirumeni takes the premise of the 1997 film, Breakdown, and remains largely faithful to the plot, giving it a few necessary changes to suit Indian sensibilities. And the most important change is in the relationship dynamics between Arjun and his wife Kayal (Trisha), which adds gravitas to this equation that drives large portions of the film. The movie starts off by establishing the romance between the couple and the gradual falling out that happens over years of marriage. We are shown glimpses of their journey, right from the first meet-cute to falling heads over heels in love to the first cracks in the relationship, and the seemingly irreparable ones. And point to Magizh and editor NB Srikanth for deciding to tell all these through two beautiful Anirudh Ravichander numbers to ensure the pacing isn’t sacrificed for showcasing the romance part.

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Fri, February 7 2025

Ajith and Trisha's 'Vidaamuyarchi' directed by Magizh Thirumeni, begins with a fascinating setup about a lost couple having to find their way back into love, but soon gets sidelined into a generic action movie

There are lovely additions Magizh Thirumeni makes to Breakdown (1997) to humanise what was otherwise a straightforward Hollywood action movie. This begins right with the way he re-interprets the title ‘Breakdown’. Not only does this mean that Magizh’s version begins way before Arjun’s (Ajith Kumar) car breaks down in the middle of nowhere as he travels with his wife to Tbilisi, but the title also alludes to the ‘breakdown’ they are experiencing in their marriage. It’s middle of the road in a sense, but the not the kind you’re thinking about. They’ve been together for 12 years and they’ve lost the magic that had once brought them together. In another awkward meet-cute that we’ve now come to expect from Magizh Thirumeni, we’re told that Arjun once sent “Happy Birthday” messages every day to Kayal (Trisha) for six consecutive months. But after 12 years, Arjun doesn’t even remember the date anymore, even when the world stays up to wish Kayal.

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Fri, February 7 2025

Vidaamuyarchi is a genre film: a road action thriller where the thrills need to be earned. And it does a commendable job of establishing terrain as well as characters.

Magizh Thirumeni’s Vidaamuyarchi, starring Ajith Kumar, Trisha Krishnan, Arjun Sarja and Regina Cassandra, adapts from Jonathan Mostow’s 1997 film Breakdown. The premise and several plot events are similar, but Magizh’s additions and adornments do stand out as one would expect in an Indian version with a huge star in the lead. Just look at the length of both the films: Breakdown clocks at a crisp 93 minutes. Vidaamuyarchi is 150 minutes. Make of that what you will. This film places itself in the highways, cafes and rest stops of Azerbaijan with Ajith’s Arjun living in Baku with his wife Kayal (Trisha). Their relationship is 12 years old, and we get some quick flashbacks, choppily written, to establish history. Magizh wants to present an adult relationship, something his mentor Gautham Vasudev Menon managed to do in Yennai Arindhaal with the same actors. It works to an extent in the present-day portions when the relationship is crumbling, they deal with slow erosion like mature individuals. But in the flashback, it is unwieldy. The dialogues don’t pop the way adult romantic lines should; it is edited to be concise, but the pattern is shoddy, the cadence is off, and it is clear that the actors are working with mediocre material.

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Fri, February 7 2025

Palak and Anuja endear us to their bittersweet world

Anuja begins with a girl telling her tween sibling a Panchatantra story about how a faithful mongoose saved a farmer’s child from a poisonous snake yet was mistaken for an attacker because of his master’s impetuous impulses. Making a thoughtful decision is central to writer-director Adams J Graves’ Oscar-nominated live-action short film – backed by the likes of Guneet Monga, Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra Jones – about a pair of orphaned sisters inhabiting Delhi’s grimy, shabby slums.

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Fri, February 7 2025

The Oscar-nominated live action short film greedily panders to the western gaze.

On paper, Anuja is a noble project. It’s made in association with Salaam Baalak Trust, a Delhi-based non-profit organisation that supports street kids. It stars one of its children, Sajda Pathan, as a gifted nine-year-old garment factory worker who is conflicted between earning a livelihood and getting an education. It’s an Indian American production. It is backed by diaspora-global celebrities like Mindy Kaling, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Guneet Monga Kapoor. And it’s about spirited orphans in a big bad world. Which is to say: Anuja is so noble that it’s only a project. At its best, it’s a creative presentation slide. At its worst, it’s less of a short film and more of a look-poor-people-hungry-people aesthetic. It brings back memories of the famous and infamous Slumdog Millionaire (2008) — and not in a good way.

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Wed, February 5 2025

Directed by Adam J Graves, the heartwarming fictional drama is up for Best Live Action Short Film at the 97th Academy Awards on March 2.

Written and directed by Adam J Graves, Anuja is one of five shorts nominated for an Oscar in the Best Live Action Short Film category. Backed by producers Guneet Monga, Mindy Kaling, and Priyanka Chopra, it gives viewers a glimpse into the lives of two young girls trying to survive in the city without much support. There is hope for the younger girl Anuja, and the film highlights the hard choice the little one must face: choosing herself or supporting her beloved sister Palak. In just 22 minutes, the short film takes us on an emotional journey. The short film focuses on two orphaned sisters, Anuja (Sajda Pathan) and Palak (Ananya Shanbhag), who work in a garment factory in Delhi. Child labour is illegal, but the owner, Mr Verma (Nagesh Bhonsle), flaunts the rules by lying about the ages of the younger children. An educator, Mr Mishra (Gulshan Walia), comes to the factory with the opportunity of a lifetime for the bright Anuja. If she can take and pass an admission test for a boarding school, she’ll receive a scholarship. But the fee for the test is Rs 400, which is a large sum for the sisters. Writer-director Graves straddles both the fictional and real worlds in this story. Made in conjunction with the Salaam Baalak Trust, which supports the street children of Delhi, Anuja turns a spotlight on the still-persistent issue of child labour. Poverty and a lack of education give rise to the problem that has been prevalent in India for decades. Still, Graves gives us a touching story about the unbreakable bond between the two sisters. The film begins with a fable about a farmer’s family and a pet mongoose, highlighting the virtues of bravery and sacrifice.

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Fri, February 7 2025

Ananth Narayan Mahadevan's film is a satisfying retelling of a classic short story by Satyajit Ray

Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, in partnership with writer Kireet Khurana, has extended Satyajit Ray’s short story Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro into The Storyteller, a 116-minute drama available on Disney+ Hotstar. Tarini Bandopadhyay (Paresh Rawal) is a recently retired writer, whose longest assignment lasted 13 weeks. He’s a widower who is content with his Calcutta life and takes meticulous care of his Ambassador car. Conversations with his fellow comrades, over fish fry and fish curry, are rarely without mention of Capitalism and its ills and almost always end with ‘Tarini tales’. Tarini is a wonderful storyteller. Even after his wife gifted him a pen to encourage him, Tarini never recorded his imaginative and original stories.

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Sun, February 2 2025

Tarini Bandyopadhyay, a widowed elderly Bengali man with a son, has long stints at many publishing houses, but never takes it upon himself to be an author, despite being a gifted communicator and storyteller. After his retirement, he’s hired by an Ahmedabad-based businessman Ratan Garodia, suffering from chronic insomnia, to tell stories in the hope of finding sleep.

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Fri, January 31 2025

Even though the casting of the Gujju-in-real-life Paresh Rawal as the intellectual Bengali, and Adil Hussain as the sheep-counting-to-no-avail businessman, feels counter-intuitive, the actors are consummate enough to carry it off.

A Satyajit Ray short story becomes the basis of ‘The Storyteller’, an unhurried unspooling of an unlikely relationship between two men, separated by geographies, backgrounds, and, most crucially, intent. The result is a film which takes its time to lay out its wares, demanding your patience, which does get a trifle stretched, but overall rewards you for it. Tarini Bandhopadhyaya (Paresh Rawal) is a 60-something Bengali gent who loves fish and hates capitalism with equal passion. Ratan Garodia (Adil Hussain) is a Gujarati businessman who has everything except the comfort of sleep.

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Fri, February 7 2025

The ending turns the table on the audience

In a sense the ending in brilliant where the audience ends up judging themselves on the reaction as they were judging each character through out the runtime of the film, but it may not be enough. Directed by Edward Berger of All Quiet On The Western Front, the film is based on a book by Robert Harris released in 2016. The story sets forward a simple premise but stirs up major socio economic discussion in a religious setting. Conclave isn’t about ideology how much to maintain it while also trying to exist in the same world filled with national and economic borders. The film follows Dean Lawrence arriving after the death of the Pope and then tracking his last moments of the day. Early on the film builds suspense around his death but instead of turning into a crime thriller or drama the film explores several plots and subplots at the same time with much fineness. Much of it can be seen through the screenplay while other can be seen in the performance of the actors and through the direction aka Edward Berger’s point of view. He also explores the contradiction in Vatican’s world, the orders it operates on, the way it is perceived and even tries to break down those notions.

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